David Mercer's blog

Starting a small business is a lot of work so it is important to find and use the right tools and services that can help to save time and money during the startup phase.

Generating a stable flow of cash is one of the most important goals for any startup business - especially online ones.

This makes it a business imperative to get to the stage where your business is able to find and convert people into paying clients and customers as fast as possible.

Drupal & Joomla are two popular CMS systems that offer powerful Web design and development features, and both have recently been overtaken in popularity (in the United States) by two website builders - Wix & Weebly.

What's interesting about this trend is not that one brand of Web development tool has become more popular than another, it's that it signals a change in the way small and home businesses build websites altogether.

Americans are opting for ease of use and speed of development over power and flexibility when it comes to building small business websites.

"Did you know that it's super easy to get your small or home business online in less than half an hour, without requiring any technical skills or knowledge, and for free?"

If you have a small business, or an idea for a business, and would like to get a professional website (or eCommerce store) online, then 2013 is the time to start.

With the economy showing signs of recovery, and website builders offering powerful, cutting edge Web development tools at very affordable prices (with free trials to get started), 2013 is going to be the year of opportunity for small businesses on the Web.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for eCommerce sites plays a vital role in driving valuable organic search traffic that converts into sales and revenue.

But, over the last few years, as Google has unleashed Panda and Penguin on Web spammers, thin affiliates, and duplicate content sites, many online store owners feel that SEO is a dirty word - a way to cheat instead of compete.

In fact, we should draw a distinction between good SEO (that is encouraged by Google), and bad SEO that we'll simply label Web spam.

Any top Web hosting company will be confident of retaining new clients because of the reliability and performance of their servers, along with their customer & technical support.

Because of this, leading hosting companies often (but not always) offer a limited time money back guarantee to help mitigate any financial risk on the part of their potential customers.

Of course, this encourages clients to at least try out their Web hosting services in the first place because they know they are entitled to a full refund.

Finding a great small business Web host is not always easy, and if you've made the wrong choice it is important to move your website to a better Web host as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, many small business owners are reluctant to move their website once they are established, because of the technical issues involved.

Not to mention the risk of downtime, loss of business, domain problems and a potential drop in organic search traffic from Google and other search engines.

Hosted shopping carts, like Bigcommerce, offer a quick and affordable way to build an eCommerce site without requiring any technical or Web design skills.

Bigcommerce provides cutting edge Web design with great SEO (Search Engine Optimization), mobile support and plenty of integration with 3rd party platforms (like eBay) to help drive sales.

In addition, Bigcommerce has already handled over one billion dollars in eCommerce transactions so you can be sure of a safe and reliable platform on which to build your business.

"Are you looking for some creative, new marketing ideas to help your small business attract new customers and retain existing ones better?"

With new technologies and services coming online faster and faster it can be difficult to decide on the best marketing strategies that are both effective and within budget.

Anyone who has tried using PPC ads, for example, will probably attest to the fact that they can be a severe drain on finances if not implemented correctly.

Recovering Web traffic lost as a result of a Google Panda penalty is something every blogger or webmaster should attempt - even if you aren't aware of an existing penalty.

Some statistics indicate that around 60% of websites suffer needlessly from Google Panda penalties without the webmaster's knowledge.

This means that your website could be receiving a fraction of the Web traffic it deserves, because a Panda penalty applies site-wide (so bad content in one part of your site can affect everything).

"Are you focusing on content, SEO, social media, mobile and responsive Web design, or link building to boost traffic to your website in 2013?"

A panel with Matt Cutts & Duane Forrester at the recent SMX West had some interesting insight into how small businesses should prioritize their Web development, marketing and SEO efforts.

While most of the focus was on the upcoming release of Google's Panda #25 (expected on Friday the 15th, March or Monday the 18th), I found two comments by Duane to be more interesting. In particular:

1. Content is the #1 priority
2. Prepare for mobile